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Interviews: Noel Woods

Noel is a musical director, percussionist, DJ/Producer, Event Manager and works for the local iwi radio station Atiawa Toa FM.

groveroots

Where are you from?
I was raised at Waiwhetu Marae and my whakapapa is Te Atiawa and Ngāti Porou. I’m Wellington born and bred.

How long have you been active in the Wellington Music scene?
I’ve been jamming as a DJ since 1996 then extended the sound system into a band in 2005.

What inspired you to start playing music and what are your inspirations now?
Music has been a huge part of our whanau, hapu and iwi at Waiwhetu. My Kuia and her East Coast Ngāti Porou whānau were very musical as well.

In 2004 I saw Fat Freddy’s Drop play NYE at Phoenix and I was like, man I need that machine (MPC). That was when I made the change to get a band going and that year we debuted at the Parihaka International Peace Festival.

Grove Roots – tell us about the band.
The best way to describe us is that we are a waka. The waka is not just a band but a vehicle for delivery and in this case it’s music. Grove Roots participates in a wide range of things from event managment to artist managment, music production to educational ventures.

People jump in and out of the rōpu when they can and at the moment we have a up and coming artist named Sianne Dougherty who is described as a Korokoro Tui. (Song Bird)

We started off playing kaupapa māori waiata and now we play originals in both te reo Māori and English as well as cover music with our own slight twist.

We’re had about 40-50 members jam as season regulars or special guests over the past 10 years.

Have you got any recordings or plans to record?
In 2005 we recorded and released a waiata māori album featuring remixes of Fat Freddy Drop and Kora waiata. Three new te reo Māori tracks are being recorded and released in time for the Māori new year with an e.p. brewing up for an end of the year release.

Have you got any gigs coming up?
14th January Meridian Gardens Magic 8pm at the Gardens Sound Shell
24th January Paua NZ Tour at King St Live
25th January Wellington Anniversary Day event “Our Place” at the Petone Esplinade.
31st January Te Rā o Raukura
Waitangi Day – Waitangi Park
6th March – Newtown Festival @ Tangata Whenua Stage
20th March Cuba Dupa


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